Everything I Know About College Tennis I Learned Last Weekend

Everything I Know About College Tennis I Learned Last Weekend
©Colette Lewis 2005

Well, not quite. I did cover the ITA Individual Indoor Championships in Ann Arbor for collegeandjuniortennis.com back in November and did some research on the NCAA regulations when I wrote my Oudsema college vs. pro story, (for that story click here).

But compared to my exposure to and grasp of junior tennis, the gulf is wide and unlikely ever to close. So the following five observations gleaned from my visit to the USTA/ITA Team Indoor at Mid-town Tennis Club in Chicago are to be read with that caveat.

College tennis is all about team
Jesse Witten of Kentucky avenged his loss to Illinois‘ Ryler DeHeart in the Ann Arbor final, when he beat DeHeart at number one singles in their teams‘ first round match. But Illinois prevailed 4-2, and Witten was taking no solace from his win. ”It wasn‘t enough, though,” were his first words after being congratulated on his victory.

Coaching adds to tennis
Davis Cup is the only top level competition that allows it, but in college, coaches move from match to match, coming up with strategies on the fly, giving vocal support, interceding with umpires when disputes arise. In juniors, where arguably it is most needed, coaching isn‘t allowed, which surely is taking the machismo of the sport‘s individualism too far.

There is home court advantage, at least if you are Illinois
Though the finals on Sunday between Baylor and Virginia were well played and well attended, the electricity left the building when Illinois lost in the semifinals to Baylor 4-3 on Saturday night. The match came down to number four singles, with Baylor sophomore Matija Zgaga outlasting Illinois freshman Monte Tucker 6-4 in the third, much to the dismay of the 1400-plus partisans crowded around the deciding match.

With a team featuring four freshmen (at 2, 3, 4 and 6 singles), Illinois coach Craig Tiley must be satisfied with his team‘s progress, as they took the top-ranked Bears to the final set. There are advantages to serving as tournament host, as all three of the Illinois matches were scheduled for 6 p.m., assuring maximum alumni attendance.

Foreign-born players will continue to dominate, and polarize, college tennis
Though remedies have been introduced, including a rule requiring all college players to begin their education by age 20, recruiting philosophies of individual programs are likely to keep the overseas pipeline open.
Baylor features no US players on its squad, and its number one player, senior Benedict Dorsch of Germany, is 24 years old. Few object to foreign players on principal, and those programs, like Virginia and Illinois, who have them in proportion to their school‘s non-athletic student population, are supported whole-heartedly. But there was a definite Davis Cup feel to the Illinois vs. Baylor and Virginia vs. Ole Miss (no American-born players) matches. The irony is that the influx of foreign players has created a better game, and non-alums are free to take sides on the basis of nationality if they choose.

Tennis is a lonely sport, though less so if you‘ve played in college
The bonds formed playing a team intercollegiate sport are strong ones. I saw Patrick McEnroe hit up Stanford associate head tennis coach Dave Hodge for a Cardinal T-shirt at the Orange Bowl this year, and McEnroe left Palo Alto in 1988. Amer Delic, the 2003 NCAA Division 1 singles champion while at Illinois, was at the Mid-town tennis club for all three of the Illini matches, cheering the squad that featured only two players remaining from that national championship year. The Bryan twins recently played an exhibition at their alma mater Stanford, in conjunction with a Cardinal dual meet. That collegiate esprit de corps may very well be what Andy Roddick and his barnstorming, Davis-Cup-playing friends Mardy Fish and the Bryans are attempting to recreate in the uber-individual world of professional tennis.


In short, college tennis has much to recommend it, and those seeing it for the first time cannot argue its relevance or value, or maybe, most importantly, how much fun it is.